**spoiler alert** The true story of Dave Pelzer -- Calif.'s 3rd worse child abuse case. Dave's mother is an alcoholic and she treats him horribly - -h**spoiler alert** The true story of Dave Pelzer -- Calif.'s 3rd worse child abuse case. Dave's mother is an alcoholic and she treats him horribly - -he goes from being loved to being isolated, hated and being the family slave. His mother burns him on the stove, and even stabs him with a knife. He is prepped to tell outsiders he "fell, slipped, or whatever" to explain his multiple bruises, cuts and scars on his body. Thi story made me cry. His teachers, and school nurse document his case and finally have child services take Dave from his tormentor's home. Most of my student's want to read this book!!! My students were telling me for years to read this book and I am finally glad that I did!...more

**spoiler alert** I liked this book. It was odd, weird, strange. The characters were so very bizarre. But after seeing the movie -- I LIKED the book s**spoiler alert** I liked this book. It was odd, weird, strange. The characters were so very bizarre. But after seeing the movie -- I LIKED the book so much more. It told a story -- even if Augusten Burroughs was sued by the family. You have to admit ... there was probably MORE than a grain of truth to his living with that family while his mother catered to her selfish whims of being a "real" poet. The parts of his being SPOILER HERE! Sodimized by a pedophile and his realizing and living the gay existence he always knew he had ... were hard to read sometimes. I still liked this book even if it wasn't HIS memoir. Part of it is HIS story ... even if he embelishes some. ...more

**spoiler alert** Sylvia Nasar did such an amazing job of recounting John Nash's brilliant career and then tragic fall into schizophrenia. So many dis**spoiler alert** Sylvia Nasar did such an amazing job of recounting John Nash's brilliant career and then tragic fall into schizophrenia. So many discussions and insights into mathematics. I am NOT a math person but she just weaves the explanations into the novel. As this is truly novel-like in it's approach. It's a biography but she makes it so palatable. I got the explanations of what he studied and what interested him in the world of mathematics. I was genuinely interested in the entire story. I give so much credit to his wife and his mother and sister and Eleanor and his one son -- John David. Wow to deal with his illness with the strength and grace that they mustered. I admired the women in his life. His rise back into the world of brilliance was miraculous. I routed for his mind to return to him. Such a long, hard road back. I was so glad that he took on the care of his other son -- John Jr. when HE was discovered to have schizophrenia and refused to take his meds when out of the hospital. Reading about Robert (Bob) Wilson, it dawned on me that THIS was the Robert Wilson that I babysat for in my teen years in Holmdel, NJ. Bob had won the Nobel prize for the "Big Bang Theory", though I thought that his win was for Physics and not for the prize in Economics. The movie was good, but the book is fabulous....more

This book was truly amazing. I love Vincent Van Gogh, and Stone does him justice in letting us see Vincent through his letters to his brother Theo. SuThis book was truly amazing. I love Vincent Van Gogh, and Stone does him justice in letting us see Vincent through his letters to his brother Theo. Such a sad and lonely life. Unrequitted love, and when he WAS loved -- he did not return it to a woman who would have lived at his knee with loving tenderness. His relationships with other painters and reading their names and the relationships they had or DIDN't with Vincent is truly interesting. How he painted and struggled with his view of what he SHOULD have been accomplishing on the canvas just tears at your heart ... as we KNOW the end result of his work. And just how moving and beautiful his talent truly was....more